ESTIMATE OF BERING 159 



was his calmness and earnest preparation for the parting, which 

 came while [he was] in full possession of his reason and speech. 

 He himself was convinced that we had been cast away upon an 

 unknown land, yet he did not want to dishearten the others by 

 saying so but on the contrary cheered them on to hope and 

 activity in every way.372 — ^^ ^^g ^^ay following we buried his 

 lifeless body according to the rites of the Protestant church^^^ 

 near our dwelling, where he lies between his adjutant, a com- 

 misary, and two grenadiers. ^'^ At our departure we placed a 

 wooden cross ^-^ on the grave as a monument, which would like- 

 wise serve as a sign of our having taken possession of the coun- 

 try, ^^e 



After the death of our leader we had made so much progress 

 that the entire command found itself in five underground 

 dwellings secure against the severity of the winter. They were 

 all located alongside one another on the site that had been first 

 selected for quarters and were named as follows: the Barracks, 

 the Lieutenant's yurt [hut], mine, Alexei Ivanov's, and Luka 



3" This sentence is an abridgment of a longer passage in the MS which 

 reads: "Although he was fullj' aware that he had discovered an unknown 

 land for his burial place yet he did not want to lessen their courage still 

 more by announcing it inopportunely. It could also easily be seen that he 

 was only concerned for the welfare of his command, without care for his 

 own life, and that he had no more heartfelt wish than our deliverance 

 from this country and his own complete [deliverance] from his misery. 

 He could hardly have found a better place to prepare for the long eter- 

 nity than this deathbed under the open sky." 



3^3 The MS reads: "with rites similar to those of our church." 



37* By the "adjutant" may be meant Khotyaintsov, who is mentioned 

 in that capacity by Steller a few pages above (p. 154). According to 

 Steller {loc. cil.) he died two days after Bering, or, according to the log 

 book (Vol. I, pp. 230 and 282), he died the day after Bering. The "two 

 grenadiers" might be Alexei Popov and Ivan Nebaranov (see footnote 

 310), who died on November 4 and 5 respectively (Vol. i, pp. 208, 209, 

 and 281). As to the "commissary" no identification can be suggested. 



37!i See Fig. 16 (the cross shown was erected in 1880: Suvorov, Ko- 

 mandorskie Ostrova, 1912, Fig. i and p. 83). 



376 In the MS this clause reads: "which, according to the custom of the 

 Russians in Siberia, is likewise the sign of a new country which has been 

 subjected to the Russian Empire." 



